What increasing threats to colleges mean in light of Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

PATRICK J. REILLY

The National Labor Relations Board and the Vatican agree: Catholic colleges should have a strong Catholic identity.

And given increasing threats to the religious liberty of Catholic institutions, that may be a valuable lesson to learn. Legal experts warn that a weak Catholic identity makes for a weak defense against religious-liberty violations.

On May 26, the NLRB’s Chicago director concluded that St. Xavier University, a Sisters of Mercy apostolate, could not demonstrate a “substantial religious character” and, therefore, must accept the NLRB’s authority over faculty union organizing. In January, the agency’s New York office also claimed jurisdiction over Manhattan College, a Christian Brothers institution.

In particular, the Chicago director wrote, “A faculty member’s religious values, or lack thereof, play no role in their hiring or retention at the [St. Xavier] university and are not a subject of their evaluations.”

And despite acknowledging that Manhattan College is recognized as Catholic by the New York Archdiocese, the NLRB took it upon itself to evaluate the college’s curriculum and policies, finding “that the purpose of the college is secular and not the ‘propagation of a religious faith.’”

What defense can these colleges raise?

On the one hand, neither Catholic nor government officials seem persuaded that many Catholic colleges are still very Catholic. The Vatican has been rather clear that a renewal of Catholic identity is needed in Catholic higher education. And the NLRB has ruled against most Catholic-college exemptions from federal labor law for decades.

Facts are facts. When nearly one in eight Catholic students leave the faith while attending a Catholic college, it’s hard to argue that the education is adequately faith-centered. When polls show that students become more opposed to Catholic moral teaching by graduation, no one can dispute the identity crisis in Catholic higher education.

On the other hand, there is the important point that regardless of whether the NLRB’s judgment is accurate, no federal agency has the right to decide whether Catholic colleges are sufficiently religious according to Catholic standards: That authority is reserved to the Catholic bishops.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has said as much, twice ordering the NLRB to stop judging colleges’ religious identity, in 2002 and 2008. The argument, first proposed by now-Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, is that federal courts have no constitutional right to question a college’s religious identity if it is publicly declared. If the college is being deceptive, let market forces and religious leaders resolve the hypocrisy.

Therefore, even if Manhattan College and St. Xavier University can’t convince the NLRB to reverse its decisions, they can probably win their cases at the federal-court level.

So that means that authentic Catholic identity is not legally necessary, right? Not so, warn top religious-liberty experts.

The problem is that the NLRB’s attempts to force Catholic colleges to comply with federal labor laws are part of a larger trend, described by Kevin Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund in a recent analysis for the Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education.

“Federal and state laws are increasingly being used to coerce religious institutions into actions and commitments that violate deeply held religious convictions and moral principles,” Theriot writes. He cites laws mandating that employee and student health-insurance plans cover contraceptives and that employers provide employee benefits for same-sex couples.

While Catholic colleges can engage in public relations and lobbying efforts to combat such laws, ultimately the only protection may be in citing the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and obtaining exemptions to offensive laws.

“But an educational institution that veers from a religious founding will probably not be able to demonstrate that it is a religious organization,” Theriot warns. Authentically Catholic colleges have an “advantage” over other religious colleges because they have been given clear standards to follow in the 1990 apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

Likewise, attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty advise Catholic institutions to ensure that they can demonstrate that their religious identity is “bona fide” and “sincerely held,” or they may be unable to claim religious exemptions to federal laws.

How does a college demonstrate its Catholic identity? The Cardinal Newman Society released a tool last month that should help. The Assessing Catholic Identity handbook summarizes key instructions from the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sorted according to functional categories and accompanied by questions that colleges can ask of their employees to gauge progress toward a stronger Catholic identity.

For Catholic colleges, this is an urgent matter. The NLRB is currently weighing Manhattan College’s appeal for a reversal of the New York regional director’s ruling. Belmont Abbey College is awaiting a response to its appeal to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has charged the college with discrimination against women for refusing to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives. And new Education Department regulations force states to be more active in chartering colleges, which invites state politicians to interfere with college policies and curricula.

Even as secularism threatens Catholic identity, government threatens to exert greater control over colleges that have compromised their Catholic missions. Ex Corde Ecclesiae never looked so good.

Patrick J. Reilly is president of The Cardinal Newman Society and author of The NLRB’s Assault on Religious Liberty published by the CNS Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education.

Poor America, what has happened to your relationship with God? As I have stated elsewhere, America appears to be hell-bent on fighting God on all quarters and kicking out His Church from the Nation!!! On the issue of Catholic Schools, Pope Benedict XVI has promulgated the Pontifical Missionary Childhood which has been introduced in all Catholic Parishes, Schools and Universities. This Pontifical Missionary Childhood,inculcates the Catholic Faith to our children from the Nursery School level up to the University. I am surprised from the comments above because America seems to have heard absolutely nothing of this “Boat to get our children back into the fold Catholic Faith and Morals” and snatch them from the Evil of the god of “Me, I and Myself” and a lifestyle that has no God in it. This Pontifical Missionary Childhood is spreading like wildfire here in Africa. And our youth, who had been lured by your imported Evangelical and Pentecostal Charismatic brand of Protestantism are trooping back to the Catholic Church in their thousands upon thousands. Our Learning Institutions are the Pillars which are forming the characters and inculcating Catholic Faith Doctrine and Moral Values to our Youth. As a result the Weekday and Sunday Masses have almost attained a ratio of 3-1 youth/adult Faithful. The Churches are always packed full in all Masses. The Confession lines are long before Weekday Masses and the Priests are kept pretty busy on Saturdays too. Our Seminaries and Convents are brimming with Seminarians and Postulants. The Priests and Nuns are proud to wear their habits at all times, thereby effectively professing their Faith always and everywhere. Our National Catholic Universities are truly Catholic in curriculum, dress code and daily Worship. We do not segregate anyone for admissions, but the minute one is steps into our Primary, Secondary or University Institution, one immediately feels the vibrant Spirit-filled Catholic Atmosphere and Identity which is pulpable. Dear American Catholic Church, do something fast. If you lose your children, you have missed God entirely as a Nation and that will be catastrophic.

Posted by vance on Monday, Jun, 13, 2011 1:10 PM (EDT):

Isn’t this ironic? The anti-Christian Liberal Establishment is ordering the Catholic Colleges to be “Catholic”. Now, let’s see if our anti-Catholic University Presidents or Deans will comply. They certainly ignored our Holy Father. We Catholics are to blame for this whole mess because millions of us continue to vote Marxist Democrat Party politicians into office. These politicians continue to pass laws that directly challenge our Church beliefs, teachings, and canon laws.

Posted by Jasper fjohn68 on Monday, Jun, 13, 2011 8:49 AM (EDT):

I disagree that the battle should be fought by ceding the “high ground” to the NLRB.

IMHO there is a First Amendment religious objection to the NLRB’s action. First and foremost. They have no standing to decide “religious enough”. If Stamford is a “religious” school, then so’s MC. It doesn’t matter what the Prez thinks, the NLRB thinks, or what you and I think. The Gooferment must “steer clear” of Religion. Litmus tests are for chemistry. If the University of Phoenix claims to worship the internet, then it to is entitled to the protection of the First.

You’re conceding on big issues: jurisdiction, standing, and venue. And, you’re agreeing to play by the “Secular Progressive” rulebook. Do you think you’re going to get a fair shake in a Gooferment Court? I don’t.

Regardless, if we agree that these days, “Catholic” politicians aren’t, some sisters and priests are “far off the reservation”, and maybe Catholic children are lost on supposedly Catholic campuses. We must strongly resist any Gooferment intrusion into religion. And, we must never cede the “high ground” where it gets to be the arbiter of anything “religious”. We’ve seen in history the results—religious wars. (I’m speechless that two sides who supposedly worship the Prince of Peace can kill each other over dogma.)

Re: “one in eight Catholic students leave the faith”, the battle for Catholic children has been lost in the Gooferment Skrules. “We” failed to fight “free” Gooferment education in the past and so we have lost that battle. The Gooferment gets a free shot at indoctrinating EVERYONE’S children in the “Secular Progressive” ideology that worships the Gooferment. That’s the battle we should be fighting.

imho,
“a lost soul”

Posted by Gorka on Monday, Jun, 13, 2011 2:38 AM (EDT):

I am in agreement with this proposal. Each member of these Catholics institutions must be a practicant catholic. Catholic colleges should have a strong Catholic identity.

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